Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 3301 to 3325 of 4681 results

3301. Samaria and Our Spiritual Journey

John 4:1-26

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... connected with a company that is head over heels now in the gambling business. It’s the same company, in name, that he went to work with years ago - but the company has changed drastically. My friend is torn to pieces inside because he cannot bear to be identified with the part of that company that is developing every casino possible. It violates his moral sensitivities. It calls into question his Christian commitment. He is wrestling with how to disengage himself, He is in the middle of Samaria. At one ...

3302. Who Will Cast the First Stone?

John 7:45--8:11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... ? Or unrecognized desire to hurt someone else because you have been hurt? Have you secretly delighted in the misfortune of another? Maybe delighted is too strong a word – Have you had that smiling feeling – while he or she got what they deserved? Are you still bearing a grudge against someone who did you wrong, though that one has sought to make amends? Is there still just a small fire of resentment burning inside you because you’ve not forgiven that one who stole some happiness from you or caused you ...

3303. The Essence of the Gospel

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Turn the clouds from your eyes And see me as I really am. Can’t you see what your gentle Insanities do to me! Rob me of anger And give me despair. Blows and abuse I can take and ‘give back again.’ ‘Tenderness, I cannot bear.’” Through the love of Don Quixote, Aldonza became Dulcinea, and you remember that closing scene? Don Quixote lies dying, confused, and doesn’t remember people, doesn’t remember their names even though Aldonza pleads with him to remember her name. He days, “Is it so ...

3304. God's Chosen People: Partners

John 15:1-17

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... So, let’s see for ourselves what it means to be partners with Christ – and of course, as always, we get our direction from Scripture. I PARNTERS IN WITNESS Jesus said: “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.” So, this is our first direction, we are to be partners in witness. “I send you out,” Jesus said. Too much of what the church does, I am afraid, emphasize our privilege, rather than calling us and equipping us to be partners with Christ in ...

3305. The Reluctant Prophet

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... obtain the coin so that they may obtain the “graces” — the goods, services, and benefits of the commissary. The other model which Professor Eller presents is that of the caravan a walking caravan which is a distinct contrast to the commissary and which bears little comparison to it. The caravan, he says, “is a group of people banded together to make a common cause in seeking a common destination.” The meaning and the sense of the caravan is found only in its movement toward the destination - its ...

3306. Barriers to Grace

Exodus 6:28--7:7

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and hardens clay.” There’s no difference in the rays of the sun, but in the material on which they shine. It’s an awesome, even awful thought to consider, that whoever is not brought near, is driven away by the influences which God brings to bear in our lives. When I was growing up in rural Mississippi, I used to hear evangelists talk about “gospel-hardened sinners”. I found it very difficult understanding what they were talking about. But now I know. I’ve known a number of people throughout my ...

3307. Let God Be God - As if It Could Be Otherwise

Exodus 7:14-24

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... of lost family love plagues his soul. Another friend who had given himself to ordained ministry followed the distorted desires of his flesh, sinning to the point that he couldn’t live with himself, so he gave up ordination. His is a dynamic Christian now, but still bears the pain of that sin long ago and he is miserable not living with his ordinal call. I could go on, but you know, sure you know in your heart of hearts, because most of us have experienced it firsthand. We can’t sow to the wind without ...

3308. John 16:12-15

John 16:5-16

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

... was described as helping the disciples remember what Jesus had already taught them (John 14:26), in today’s text the promise is that the Paraclete will offer new information to Jesus’ followers. What Jesus has yet to teach his disciples they “cannot bear now.” It will be after the events of Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, that the Spirit will be able to reveal “all truth” of the Christ event to the disciples. Just as Jesus had described himself as “the truth” (14:6), so is ...

3309. The Advocate of Truth

John 16:5-16

Illustration

Maurice A. Fetty

Well-known biblical scholar and translator, J. B. Phillips, has lamented that many Christians today are living on the spiritual capital of the past a spiritual capital that is rapidly being depleted. Says the Rev. Dr. Phillips, "Our society ... bears all the marks of a God-starved community. There is little real moral authority because no ultimate Authority is known or acknowledged. "As a result, says Dr. Phillips, many see little purpose in life. "Most ... hold on, without much reason or authority to the ...

3310. Illustrations on the Trinity

John 16:12-15; Mt 28:19

Illustration

Brett Blair

... , invisible but you know it's there, the trunk is like God the son, sent forth by the Father, visible and tangible, the branches and fruit is like the Holy Spirit. We are connected to Christ through the Spirit dwelling in us and by the power of the Spirit we bear fruit in the world. Or look at a steam: the water rises from a source, but usually that source is hidden, the source of the stream is like God the Father, the stream which we can see and touch is like God the Son, visible because it flows from the ...

3311. Eternity and Trinity

John 16:12-15

Illustration

Larry Powell

Clarence Macartney tells of a certain Canadian river which flows through a forbidding chasm. Looming on either side of the river are rugged, uninviting crags which bear the names "Eternity" and "Trinity." Macartney suggests that the opposing crags invite an analogy (you understand of course, that to a preacher, most everything invites analogy). "Inseparable from any true conception of God," he says, "are always the two doctrines of God's eternity and God's trinity ... The threefold ...

3312. Updating Some Ancient Laws

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... on the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia. It’s still wrong to commit adultery, though that has become one of the most socially acceptable sins of our day, and portends the tearing apart of the entire family structure. It is still wrong to bear false witness against our neighbor, whether in deliberate lie or in the sweet morsel of innuendo that makes malicious gossip destructive of character. Again, the moral law of the universe won’t support killing and stealing and adultery and deception. In this ...

3313. The Darkness Where God Was

Exodus 20:1-21

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... that we feel no presence of God, and are convinced that the morning is never going to come. But it will come. In the darkness, we’re in good company. All the great saints, without exception, have had that experience. “And they all with one unanimous voice bear witness: The thick darkness where God was.” The saints are not liars. This thing is true. Don’t lose heart in the dark hour! For the God who himself went through the darkest hour of all to redeem the world is quite certainly there.” (James S ...

3314. The Ark of the Covenant

Exodus 25:10-22

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... . Here we come to the first lesson on which we focus today - the ark at Jordan teaches us about God’s prevenient presence. - When the people set out from their tents to pass over Jordan, following Joshua’s leadership, the priests were ahead of them bearing the ark of the covenant. Then comes one of the most beautiful stories in the scripture, not quite as dramatic, but almost as dramatic as the crossing of the Red Sea. When the priests who bore the ark came to the Jordan, the Jordan was overflowing ...

3315. Out of the Miry Bog (Dealing with Depression)

Psalm 22:1-31

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... daughter as they laid together across the bed. She could hear the gas escaping, but she also heard another noise. She’d forgotten to turn off the radio. Someone was singing; it was an old hymn, “Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.” The woman realized her tragic mistake. She got up, turned off the gas, opened the windows. Then she said, “I began to pray. I did not pray for help. I prayed a prayer of gratitude to ...

3316. Three Wise Men

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... who wondered about a star. Last Sunday we talked about Three Wise Women. Today we talk about three wise men. Now you know the men I’m talking about because you’ve heard the scripture lesson, and it’s Christmas time. Three wise men from the East bearing gifts for the newborn Messiah is as much a part of the Christmas story as shepherds and angels, a frightened but excited mother and a weary and confused but faithful father. I know the scripture doesn’t say there were three of them; that’s the ...

3317. The Gospel Through the Person

Galatians 4:8-20

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... it clear that central concern religion was not self-indulgent, private introspection, but loving service for others. Christianity brings peace, but it is often only Christ’s presence in our Gethsemane. Christianity brings strength, but more often than not it is the strength to bear our pain when our thorn in the flesh is not removed. Christianity comes on the Jericho road where we have been beaten down or when we identify with and lend our hearing ear and helping hand in love to a bleeding stranger. The ...

3318. Comfort in Our Distress

Luke 7:11-17

Illustration

King Duncan

... . Eisley's mother was deaf. Young Loren alone heard the sounds of his father's agony. This was before the wide application of painkilling drugs. Eiseley said a curious thing happened to him during that very stress filled time. He became so tense that he could no longer bear the ticking of the alarm clock in his own bedroom. He smothered it with a blanket but still he heard it as if it were ticking in his own head. He tried to sleep, but he could not. His distress and loneliness were too great. It was then ...

3319. Pastoral Prayer

Illustration

Brett Blair

... on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. Give us strength, too strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be ...

3320. The Shared Life of the People of God, Part 2

Galatians 6:1-10

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... The new life to live, discovered by this man who identified himself as Frank H. Wheeler, is the way of “the shared life of the people of God.” We began talking about this last Sunday, and we continue today. Last Sunday we focused on verse 2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In that sermon we said three things: One, the Christian walk is a shared journey. Two, because the Christian walk is a shared journey, we must learn to listen. Three, in the shared life of the ...

3321. Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalm 30:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... Somewhere I read the story of a young man whose wife had died, leaving him with a small son. Back home from the cemetery on the day of the funeral, they went to bed early because in his sorrow the young widower could think of nothing else he could bear to do. As he lay there in the darkness, grief stricken, numb with sorrow, the little boy broke the stillness from his little bed with a disturbing question: “Daddy, where is mommy?” The young father tried to answer the boy and tried to get him to go to ...

3322. A Goodly Heritage

Psalm 16:1-11

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

Fred Craddock tells of vacationing in the Smoky Mountains. One evening he and his wife had gone to Black Bear Inn for dinner They were looking over the menu when an old man came over to the table and greeted them and began asking: if on vacation, good time, where from, and what did for living. When Fred said that he was a preacher, the old man pulled up chair ...

3323. In the House of the Lord

Psalm 23:1-6

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... from the ends of the earth. It will nerve sailor and soldier and explorer to heroic endurance. It will melt with its dear memories the hardened criminal. It will bring a film of tears over the eyes of the man of the world.” What will we do or bear if we can’t keep our home together?” (Meyer, Ibid. pp. 155-156) The promise here is of an eternal home. Does it quicken the beat of your heart — the anticipation of dwelling in heaven — of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. I like the way ...

3324. Design for Discipleship

Acts 2:14-41

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... what parish you please: Is this Christian fellowship there? Rather, are not the bulk of parishioners a mere rope of sand? What Christian connection is there between them? What intercourse in spiritual things? What watching over each other’s souls? What bearing of one another’s burdens? (Cohn Williams, John Wesley’s Theology Today p. 151). So Wesley established class meetings to provide the fellowship of one loving heart setting another on fire? I do not believe there is anything more essential for ...

3325. Characteristics of the Church

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... to go to the mountain, and had pled with them to heal his little boy. But they couldn’t. Jesus rebuked the disciples and all those who stood by, with that almost mournful word: “O faithful generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? (Mark 9: 19) Then He told the man to bring the son to him. In the presence of Jesus, the little fellow had another seizure. He was convulsing, fell to the ground, again foaming at the mouth. Jesus questioned the father about the little boy’s ...

Showing results